Eckelberry v. State, 1085S431
| Decision Date | 18 September 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 1085S431,1085S431 |
| Citation | 497 N.E.2d 233 |
| Parties | Randy ECKELBERRY, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Nancy L. Broyles, McClure, McClure & Kammen, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
This case presents a question whose answer is easily taken for granted: At what point must force occur in a taking of property to constitute robbery?
Appellant Randy Eckelberry was convicted of robbery, a class A felony, Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-5-1 (Burns 1985 Repl.). He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In this direct appeal, he challenges only the sufficiency of the evidence, claiming that the State did not prove he took property "by using force." Because the absence of force reduces a robbery to theft, Eckelberry contends that the evidence merited at most a conviction for theft.
The facts most favorable to the verdict show that John Bohannon was working on his car in his back yard when he went inside his home for a few moments. He left his keys in the ignition. Bohannon's watchdog began to bark, and Bohannon spotted Eckelberry entering the car. Bohannon tried to enter the vehicle, but Eckelberry had locked it and started the engine. Bohannon ran into his home to get his shotgun and told his wife, Carol, to call the police.
With a cordless telephone in her hands, Mrs. Bohannon exited the house to unleash the dog. Eckelberry was attempting to turn the car around to drive straight out an alley at the back of the Bohannon property. However, the car's tires were spinning on the wet ground, and turning was made difficult by a defect in the power steering. Mrs. Bohannon yelled to Eckelberry that she was calling the police, and she moved toward the dog. Eckelberry accelerated and hit her while she stood in the yard at the side of the Bohannon home. Her body flipped and landed under the vehicle, which then hit a metal swingset. The car dragged Mrs. Bohannon and the swingset for several feet before freeing them. Eckelberry then escaped by continuing straight through the front yard, through a chain-link fence and into the street. He left Mrs. Bohannon, who was pregnant at the time, lying in critical condition in her yard.
Eckelberry claims that the evidence is insufficient to support the robbery conviction because force was not used to acquire the property. He cites Shinn v. State (1878), Ind., 64 Ind. 13, for the proposition that force must precede or accompany the taking of property to constitute robbery. Eckelberry contends that the force in this case occurred only after the property was taken.
Ind.Code Sec. 35-42-5-1 provides in relevant part:
A person who...
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State v. Holley
...or to attempt to escape, is not the force essential to satisfy the element of force required for robbery. See, e.g., Eckelberry v. State, 497 N.E.2d 233 (Ind.1986); State v. Long, 234 Kan. 580, 675 P.2d 832 (1984); State v. Hope, 77 N.C.App. 338, 335 S.E.2d 218 (1985), rev'd, 317 N.C. 302, ......
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Young v. State
...property was already complete when Young exerted force. Because the absence of force reduces a robbery to theft, see Eckelberry v. State, 497 N.E.2d 233 (Ind.1986), Young contends that the evidence merited at most a theft conviction, (see It is true that committing robbery by use of force r......
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Coleman v. State
...of the property resists before the thief has removed the property from the premises or from the person's presence. 1 See Eckelberry v. State (1986), Ind., 497 N.E.2d 233. 2 In Eckelberry, the defendant was in the process of stealing the Bohannon's car from their backyard when he hit Mrs. Bo......
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Coleman v. State
...have addressed precisely this issue. However, we take guidance from those which have. The most recent of these cases is Eckelberry v. State (1986) Ind., 497 N.E.2d 233. In that case, our Supreme Court makes clear that the robbery statute contemplates that force used be prior to or contempor......